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May 20, 2012

Man Suing Doctor Over Lost Penis

by editor

A 65-year-old Peruvian man is suing a Florida doctor after losing his penis to infection following a 2007 penile implant surgery. He told a courtroom on Thursday via webcam that the defendant failed to properly warn him of the risks and that the loss of his genitalia has robbed him of his manhood and dignity.

According to Erik Ortiz of the New York Daily News, the man, Enrique Milla, appeared via Skype from his home in Lima, where he currently resides after being deported in 2011 following an immigration dispute. Milla told the judge that he opted to have the surgery because he had suffered from erectile dysfunction.

Milla and his wife, Gloria, are reportedly seeking "tens of millions" of dollars worth of damages from Dr. Laurentiu Boeru of Coral Gables Hospital, the Huffington Post reported, claiming that the doctor had failed to properly evaluate the risks associated with Enrique's pre-existing conditions, including diabetes.

Boeru was the anesthesiologist assigned to Milla's surgery, and according to Milla's attorney, the doctor failed to properly investigate or address those other conditions, reports Fox News affiliate WSVN-Miami. According to Milla's testimony, neither his blood pressure nor his blood sugar had been taken before Boeru cleared him for the surgery. Boeru, in contrast, testified that he is only liable for anesthesia-related, preoperative risks, and not those related to the surgery itself or the actual penis implant.

Nine days following the surgery, a Gangrene infection began to spread through Milla's penis. That infection eventually "turned into a flesh-eating bacteria that ate his penis centimeter by centimeter," Milla's lawyer, Spencer Aronfeld, told WSVN-Miami. "As a result of this, he has to spend the rest of his life without a functioning penis. He has to sit down to urinate. He'll never have any intimate relationships with anyone, and he's lost his manhood."

Likewise, according to Susan Donaldson James of ABC News, Aronfeld told ABC affiliate WPLG that the process has been "devastating, painful and embarrassing" for his client, emphasizing that Milla "didn't do this to have a bigger penis“¦ This was because of medical reasons: He just wanted to have relations with his wife."

Boeru's lawyer Jay Chimpoulis denied the accusations, telling WPLG, "This is an infection that occurred in this gentleman because he didn't do what he was supposed to do post-operatively nine days after the surgery“¦ There are any number of ways he could've gotten that. None of them had anything to do with [Boeru]" and suggesting that Milla may have ignored instructions to avoid sex, developing a fecal infection as a result, James wrote.